I hope someone can help me understand how murderers get to be trustees at the Panola County Jail. I learned from the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) website that inmate 185547 was transferred to the jail on June 17, 2014. This inmate has a 12-year sentence for manslaughter. He participated in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Tommy “Burnside” Walton in 2011. This case had all of Como on pins and needles when this occurred.

How in the world do violent criminals get privileges that a check kiter can’t get? There was so much mayhem surrounding this case just three years ago that I am appalled that inmate 185547 could return to the same county where all of this happened and not serve his time in the prison system where he belongs.

If Walton had been a white person, I doubt very seriously that this would have been approved by anyone in power. He’s not the only one. A person who was involved in the murder of Jeremy Wright in Batesville was sentenced to six years and released earlier this year and was in possession of a firearm just weeks ago.

The “Stop the violence” campaign that was launched shortly after these two men were murdered is, in my opinion, “null and void.”

These guys would have gotten more time if they had killed Fifi or Fluffy. I am disgusted. Can someone please give me an answer. I tried calling the district attorney’s office for some answers about another case that involved a young Black man being killed and never got a return call. I called the circuit clerk’s office and asked for some information on another case and got the cold shoulder.

I’ll end with this line from a Michael Jackson song: “All I really want to say is they don’t really care about us.”

Donna Kaye Taylor
Como